


Toward the Future

by bluesky_daydreaming



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura deserved better, BUT I'M GETTING TO THAT, Established Relationship, Getting Together, I fixed it, I'm rewriting every episode basically, KEITH LOVES LANCE A LOT, M/M, Season/Series 08, adashi is minor at best, basically season 8 but also not, in chapter one and then
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-09-23 03:23:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17072585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesky_daydreaming/pseuds/bluesky_daydreaming
Summary: Keith wasn’t stupid. He saw the way Lance looked at Allura. With a softness in his eyes, one Keith had only ever seen there once. He saw Allura wish Lance good luck and he saw their twin blushes and maybe Lance had been breaking his heart every few minutes since he came back to the team.(summary is just for chapter 1, every other one has its own!!)(Marked as complete as each chapter can stand alone)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have never published fanfiction in my life but season 8 drove me to the edge bc I had a lot of ideas for how to do it better. Special thanks to my best friend ever for telling me I had to publish this, I love you.

Keith could feel Shiro staring at him. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure there had been a moment since they got Shiro, the real Shiro, back that his brother’s gaze hadn’t been trained on him. Shiro was like that. He always knew when something was wrong (even, Keith had discovered, when heartache was buried by scraps and bruises), but he hadn’t said anything, and Keith was content to leave it that way.

Every time he closed his eyes, memories flashed across his eyes. They weren’t even really memories, just worse case scenarios that his mind had produced in a moment of panic. He remembered distinctly how empty his chest had felt the minute Lance stopped answering on the comms, how desperate his voice must have sounded as he called Lance’s name because _no. No, he couldn’t die right now because Keith just got back, and he hadn’t even been able to tell him anything._ And then it got even worse and the Galra had them aboard a ship and the lions weren’t in their hands and Admiral Sanda had betrayed them, and once again he was calling for Lance because he just barely knew he was alive for five minutes before he was ripped away from him again. _And I can’t lose him_ , Keith had thought over and over, but then Lance’s voice was coming through the comms and Keith could breathe again.

And even when it wasn’t the unbearable thought of Lance dying that was crossing Keith’s mind, it was an ugly jealousy. Because Keith wasn’t stupid. He saw the way Lance looked at Allura. With a softness in his eyes, one Keith had only ever seen there once. He saw Allura wish Lance good luck and he saw their twin blushes and maybe Lance had been breaking his heart every few minutes since he came back to the team, but Keith did not want to talk about it. Especially not to Shiro.

Because Shiro had been enough. He was captured by the Galra and forced to fight for a year, slung into a war that was not his to fight, had given his life for the cause, been replaced by an evil clone and then brought back to life, only to get home and find out that Adam was dead. Keith remembered the way the two of them looked at each other. He had been younger then, hadn’t really understood, but he knew that it was important. Keith remembered asking Shiro, once, if it was really okay to love other boys and Shiro had said, _“Loving who ever you want is part of accepting who you are. And I accepted who I was a long time ago. Loving him is as easy as breathing.”_

It was profound advice that Keith hadn’t really understood. Not until Lance looked him in the eyes and said. _“We did it. We are a good team.”_ And then he knew that he was in love and he should say something, but they were at war, are still at war, and Lance loved Allura now.

“Thank you, Keith.” Shiro said, out of the blue, and Keith jumped a bit, his thoughts elsewhere.

“Thank you? For what?”

“Saving me. Twice. With the clone and with Sendak.” Shiro’s smile was soft, and it was the same one Keith remembered seeing when Shiro first invited him to the Garrison. “You’ve become a great leader.”

Keith’s eyes burned. “I couldn’t lose you, too. You were my only family for a long time. And I’m sorry. Sorry that this world has made you be on the receiving end of so much loss.” The words had spilled out. Keith wasn’t used to being so expressive, but his time in the Quantum Abyss had taught him a few things, and he was sick of not letting people know how he felt about them.

“I still have a little brother though, don’t I?” Shiro laughed a bit, and Keith was grateful for it. “And I have a feeling I won’t continue to lose. The war is almost won.”

They spoke a bit longer, of nothing and everything. Keith was hit with the enormity of how much he had missed the man who had become his brother. Shiro hugged him before he left, saying he needed to rest, and looking at the dark sky made Keith realize that he should, too. The hospital was too quiet, though, and Keith’s mind was racing.

\----

One turn to the right and 40 feet down the hall, Lance was having an issue.

His mind was racing with Allura’s face and Keith’s voice, and his heart was overwhelmed by the affection swelling in his heart for both of them.

Lance’s arms itched under the bandages and his heart throbbed from the unease in his chest. He loved Allura. But Keith…

Keith crashed back into his life, looking better than Lance had even thought was possible, defeated an evil clone of Shiro and showed Lotor who was boss. And _god_ Lance had _missed him_. He missed their banter and their “rivalry” and even Keith’s stupid mullet.

It had been easy, when Keith was away, to focus on Allura and be jealous of how close Lotor was to her, and Lance really did have feelings for Allura, but… Allura had loved Lotor, and Pidge and Hunk had been getting closer, and Shiro wasn’t even really Shiro and suddenly Keith was back, and he was depending on Lance again and Lance had missed him.

Allura had saved his life, brought him back from the dead and smiled in his face, only to kiss Lotor and pretend nothing had happened. He couldn’t blame her, though. Lotor had fooled them all. When she wished him good luck on their mission, Lance remembered all of the reasons his feelings for Allura had grown in the first place. Her strength, her kindness, everything about her made him want to be a better person.

But it was Keith who called his name. It was Keith whose voice he heard right before he had been convinced his life would end. He would have died thinking of Keith, and to Lance… to Lance that is what settled it.

Because he did have feelings for Allura and in a world where there was no Lotor or an evil clone Shiro, maybe he could have loved her and grown old with her. But that was not the case. _This_ was their _reality_ , and this was his life, and when he considered it, when he was honest with himself, his own words echoed in his mind.

_“I think he’s like… the future.”_

**_My future_.**

 

Lance was startled the next morning when there was a knock at his door. His family would normally just come in, there was no privacy as a McClain, but when he shouted for the knocker to come in, it was Princess Allura who opened his door.

“Hello, Lance.” She smiled, looking nervous, “Can I sit?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Of course.”

Allura sat down in the chair beside his bed, and Lance could see the nervousness in her eyes. “Is everything okay?” He asked, truthfully concerned.

“Lance. I wanted to. I wanted to speak to you about something.” Allura looked in his eyes, and Lance felt his heart jump. He nodded for her to continue. “When we were on the Castle the mice… the mice told me of your feelings for me, and I…”

“Princess…” Lance trailed off, unsure of what to say.

“No, let me explain.” Allura looked determined now. “You have been a good friend to me. Kind and smart and unfaltering. And I wish, I truly do wish, that I could say that I return your feelings.” Lance opened his mouth to speak, slightly stung by the rejection, however gentle and despite his prior conclusion about Keith, but Allura cut him off with a sharp look. “I loved Lotor. I truly did. And I am still reeling from his betrayal, and it would be wrong of me to allow you to believe anything else. I am sorry.”

Lance smiled, his eyes watering slightly. “Thank you. Honestly.” He choked out, both hurt and relieved by Allura’s words. “I understand.”

Allura stood, kissed his cheek, and walked out of the hospital room, her own eyes watering as she closed the door.

\-----

Keith smiled to his mother as she walked into his hospital room. Krolia’s eyes softened, at the sight of her son, as they always did. They didn’t speak, not for a while. The two of them never really needed two. Any tension between them had been resolved when they were on the space whale in the Quantum Abyss. Keith knew his mother hadn’t left him, and Krolia knew her son had become a wonderful man, even if she hadn’t been able to witness it.

“You know,” Krolia said as the afternoon wore on, “You are not as good at hiding your feelings as you seem to think you are.”

Keith looked at his mother, her eyes knowing, and sighed. “What do you know?” It was a useless question, and he knew it, but Keith asked it anyway, if only to prolong his sense of security in the fact that is feelings for Lance might be secret.

“The blue one.” Krolia said simply, “You love him.”

Keith met his mother’s eyes, his own full of defeat as his shoulders slumped against the bed. “And he doesn’t love me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, my son. He may harbor more affection for you than you know.” Keith allowed them to fall into silence once more. He didn’t need false hope. Lance loved Allura, and probably would forever. Keith was a footnote in Lance’s life, a rival and a friend, not someone he loved. And Keith was determined to make peace with that.

Shiro stopped by in the evening, as he did every night, and gave Keith the same look he had been for days. Keith ignored it.

“Have they said when I can leave here yet?” He asked instead.

“Tomorrow afternoon, if all goes well.” Shiro replied.

And suddenly, Keith couldn’t handle the look anymore. “Shiro, if you have something to ask me would you please just get it over with? You’ve been giving me big brother face for weeks.”

Shiro looked a bit shocked. “I don’t have a question. Just some advice.” Keith lifted his eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. “If you care about Lance the way that I know you do, tell him. Because I know better than anyone how precious time is.”

Keith nodded. He knew Shiro was right, but that didn’t make taking his advice any easier. In fact, the idea of telling Lance made Keith’s heart race and his stomach drop. So, he just nodded and ignored the look on Shiro’s face begging him to listen.

 

The next day, the paladins were each released from the hospital, all of strict orders (given by doctors and reinforced by parents and Shiro) to _stay off of their feet_ and _take it easy_. Lance grinned at Keith when he saw him as the group left the medical bay, and Keith waved back a bit before rushing out. His heart fluttering wildly as the image of Lance’s smiled burned into his mind.

\----

“I think I’m in love with Keith.” Lance blurted. Hunk nearly dropped the tray of cookies he had been baking, and Pidge cackled.

“Took you long enough!” She laughed. “I thought we were going to have to beat it out of you.” She rolled her eyes and Lance scowled at her.

“Dude.” Hunk said, looking at him, concern in his eyes. “When did you come to this realization?”

“During the mission. When… when Veronica and I crashed, and Keith was screaming my name. I realized it then. Because I would have died thinking about him calling my name, and I was actually fine with it and,” Lance stopped, realizing he had been rambling. Pidge and Hunk were staring behind him, both of them with wide eyes. Lance turned around to see Shiro staring directly at him and he felt his own eyes widen. “H-Hey, Shiro.” He stuttered.

“Hey, Lance.” Shiro smirked, and Lance felt his entire face flush because _he just said he was in love with Shiro’s brother and Shiro is smirking at him and –_

Shiro seemed to pick up on Lance’s internal panic, because the smirk was replaced by a small smile. “I won’t tell him.” He said, and Lance’s heart finally remembered how to beat properly. “But I will say that I think you should. It’s unhealthy to leave things like that unsaid.” And with that, Shiro snagged a cookie from Hunk’s tray and left the kitchen as quickly as he had entered it.

And now Lance had a new problem because one thought was now racing through his mind that hadn’t been there before: _what if Keith didn’t feel the same way._

In front of him, Pidge and Hunk were laughing, and Lance just let them. Partially because he had nothing else to say, and partially because he had missed seeing them so carefree.

\----

In the following weeks, Keith attended meeting after meeting. With the paladins, with the Atlas crew, the MFE pilots, anyone and everyone that was involved at all with the Galaxy Garrison. There were plans to be made, things that had to be done. The war was not over, not yet. Their next step would be liberating the planets still under Galra rule, and that required meticulous planning.

In spite of all of that, Launch Day arrived faster than Keith could ever have imagined. Shiro ordered them out the meeting, telling them to spend time with their loved ones, and Keith went to see Black. The sun was setting, and Keith wondered absently how long it might be before he saw another sunset on Earth.

“You can be a hard guy to find, when you want to be.” Keith turned around to find Lance staring at him, smiling softly. “Watching the sunset?”

“Yeah. Who knows when we’ll see it again.” Keith said, ignoring the racing in his chest. Lance sat down beside him, his arm brushing against Keith’s.

“I wanted to ask,” Lance cleared his throat, “I wanted to ask if you wanted to have dinner with me. With my family and me, I mean. Dinner.”

Keith’s eyes widened and his heart raced, “Uh, yeah, sure. Sure. I’ll come.”

Lance’s grin made Keith’s cheeks heat up. “Well, come on.”

\----

The walk to his house was not a long one, but to Lance it seemed to stretch on forever. His eyes kept wondering over to Keith, which in turn made his heart race.

“Just a warning.” He said, breaking the comfortable silence, “My family can be… a lot. We’re loud and messy and it can be overwhelming.”

Keith laughed, “They produced you. I figured.” He had a soft look in his eyes that made Lance’s heart melt, and suddenly he wasn’t quite so nervous anymore.

Lance pushed open the door to his house and was immediately assaulted by several voices. “Everyone,” He announced, “This is Keith. Keith, this is everyone.” Keith’s eyes had gone wide, and Lance laughed. “My mom and pops, my sister Rachel, you know Veronica, my brother Marco, and my other brother Luis. His wife is Lisa and their two kids are Nadia and Silvio.”

“Hello, Keith.” Lance’s mother said, smiling warmly, and Keith waved a bit.

Dinner was casual and reminded Lance of how much he missed his family while he was in space. They teased him, called him out on his flirting (which was embarrassing, but it made Keith laugh so Lance didn’t mind very much), and avoided the topic of space. Lance and Veronica would both be leaving in the morning, and it was not something they wanted to focus on.

When the food was finished, Lance and Keith were ushered out of the house, his mother telling them, “Go for a walk. Have a real date.” Veronica had winked, and Lance was sure both his and Keith’s faces were burning red.

Keith spoke when they started down the street, “Is that what this is? A date?”

Lance spluttered for a moment, “I- uh. It can be. If- if that’s what you want it to be.”

Keith grinned, and _oh man Lance had missed that smile_ , then grabbed his hand. “I do.” He said.

Lance lead them to an old park, one he had loved when he was young, and he couldn’t help but mourn at the loss of the beauty. “This place used to be so beautiful.”

Keith looked around, his eyes a little sad, too. “That’s why it’s so important that we end this war.”

“I know.” Lance gazed at the tree in front of him, “But what if we can’t?”

Keith looked him in the eye, and Lance felt his heart stop. “Of course we can. And we’re going to do it with the Lance that is standing beside me. The Lance who is the paladin of the red lion, who knows exactly who he is.” Keith swallowed, “The Lance who has always had my back.”

Lance’s heart was racing. “You really believe that?”

“More than I believe anything else.” They had moved closer and closer together during Keith’s speech, leaning into each other’s personal space. Keith closed the distance, his lips on Lance’s. Lance kissed back, his heart thundering on in his chest.

When they broke apart Keith smiled at him, and Lance laid his head on his shoulder. They moved apart after a while, the night getting colder, and when Lance stood, he grabbed Keith’s hand. “Come on, Samurai, I’ll walk you home. Or to the Garrison.” 

Hand in hand, they started toward the future. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My nobility might get me killed one day, but, God Lance, yours already has.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was no paladin content for episode two, so I just wrote some moments that we deserved. This chapter is shorter than the first and super dialog heavy, but the next one should be longer!

For Lance, the second trip to space was much more peaceful than the first. There was the assurance that his family was safe and that, should something happen to him, they would not be left in the dark. Without the crushing weight of that guilt and homesickness, it was easier to enjoy the stars, it was easier to remember why he wanted to go to space in the first place.

The windows of the Atlas exposed him to the vastness of space as Lance walked to the lab in search of Pidge, and this time that vastness made him excited: a stark contrast to the anxiety it caused him aboard the Castle.

Instead of Pidge in the lab, however, Lance found Matt tinkering with what looked like the beginnings of a robot.

Matt looked up at him, “Pidge is with our mom, I think she might have missed her.” He chuckled.

Lance nodded, smiling a bit, and wondered around the lab. Keith was in a meeting, Hunk was busy in the kitchen, Allura was worrying over the Alteans, and now Pidge was busy, too. So, he busied himself by investigating the lab in hopes that Pidge might come back before the silence with Matt got too awkward.

“You know,” Matt said, apparently also not a fan of the awkward silence, “I would never have pictured Keith as the Black Paladin.”

“Why not? He’s as capable as the rest of us.” Lance wrinkled his brow, but didn’t turn around to face Matt.

“Well, after what happened at Naxzela, I kind of place him in the “doesn’t think twice” category of noble rebels.”

Lance laid the object in his hand down and turned around, his eyes pinching together even further, “What do you mean? What happened at Naxzela?”

“He was going to dive into the shield. It would have killed him, had Lotor not shown up when he did. It was reckless as all hell, but also wicked brave.” Lance’s face must have given away his horror, because Matt continued. “Did… did you guys not know?”

“No… I don’t think any of us knew that Keith tried to _kill himself.”_ Lance’s stomach twisted in at the thought, and he politely excused himself from the lab, no longer in the mood to see anyone.

 ----

After the initial launch, there was still one thing bothering Keith.

He hated it, but the more he thought on it the longer he couldn’t ignore it. Lance _had_ looked at Allura with love in his eyes. Everyone could see it, and while Keith _did not_ doubt Lance’s feelings for him, he did wonder about what had happened to the feelings he had for Allura.

He intended ask, bring it up the next time they were together, but he didn’t get the chance because as soon as he walked into Lance’s room at the end of the night, he was met with a glare.

“I spoke to Matt earlier.” Lance said, his glare trained unflinchingly on Keith. “About you, specifically.”

Keith’s eyebrows scrunched together.

“The Naxzela mission. The planet that was bomb.” Lance snarled. “Why did you never mention that you were going to actually kill yourself to bring down that shield?”

Keith remembered. His heart thudded wildly thinking about that mission, because he had almost died. “There was no other choice.” He said, trying to hide the way the memory affected him. “It was bring down that shield or lose half the universe, all of you. I…” He looked at Lance the thought of losing him fresh on his mind. “I didn’t even think twice.”

Lance huffed, his face livid. Fearful, maybe, “And we would have lost you! You didn’t even say anything! You just dived at a bomb. What if Lotor hadn’t shown up? Hadn’t done us one favor?”

“I would have died! I would have saved half the universe and everyone I cared about, Lance.” Keith’s temper was flaring. “I don’t regret what I did. I’m glad that I am alive, but I wouldn’t have regretted it if I hadn’t survived.” When he looked at Lance’s face again, his heart shattered at the sight of Lance’s glassy eyes.

“Your nobility is going to get you killed, Keith.” Lance took a deep breath. Keith watched him blink back the tears, “I never told you this, but you leaving the team hurt me more than I cared to admit back then. It created this void. And learning that… learning that, that void was almost permanent.” Lance shook his head. Instead of finishing his sentence, he wrapped Keith in a hug.

Keith reciprocated the hug, blinking back tears of his own now. No, he hadn’t regretted the decision, but the impending threat of death had left its mark, and so he allowed himself the comfort of his boyfriend’s arms. Allowed it to remind him he was alive, his worries about Allura momentarily gone from the forefront of his mind.

 ----

Later on, when Keith had his head tucked against his chest, Lance realized that he hadn’t been completely honest with Keith about his own near-death experiences.

“Keith, since we’re being honest with each other today,” He said, to which Keith responded by looking up at him, his black hair falling in his face. “I, uh, I think I died when you were gone. For a minute.”

Keith sat up so fast it made Lance’s head spin, his eyes alight with an emotion Lance couldn’t name, “Please tell me that was a metaphor.”

Lance was getting nervous, now, thinking about the hit he took while rebuilding the Omega Shield. He hadn’t spoke about it since. “No. I, uh, I took a hit. Jumped in front of Allura. I just remember the flash and then feeling weightless.” Keith was staring at him, a horrified look in his eyes. “Allura she… she brought me back, I guess. I remember waking up to her with her hand on my forehead. And that was it.” Lance feels his eyes sting, the memory still terrifying. He had _actually died._

Keith was still staring, and the room was silent for a while. _“You died.”_ Keith whispered. “I wasn’t even there, and you actually died.” His voice was beginning to get hysterical. “Why did no one say anything?”

“Same reason no one told me about you! I’m pretty sure no one else even knows.” Lance said reaching for Keith’s arm across the small bed.

“I cannot believe you yelled at me earlier. I didn’t even actually die.” Keith glared at him, the turn of his mouth betraying the fear behind his anger. “You literally died and didn’t tell _anyone.”_  Keith mirrored Lance’s actions from earlier and practically tackled Lance in a hug. “My nobility might get me killed one day, but, God Lance, yours already has.”

“How about no more noble sacrifices, huh?” Lance whispered, only half joking. “For either of us.”

“We shouldn’t make promises we can’t keep.” Keith replied, clinging tighter.

 ----

On the opposite end of the Atlas, Princess Allura looked down at her hands and sighed. It was late, and she should have been in bed. She could almost have laughed just thinking about the lecture Coran, or even Shiro, would give her if they found her out this late.

She stared through the glass of the hospital room, watching the Altean pilot from the robeast sleep, barely clinging to life, and sighed again. In that room was a piece of her home, a piece of her family she thought was long extinct. Lotor had lied to her, manipulated her, and led her to believe she was truly one of the last Alteans, alongside Coran.

All the while he had been hiding a colony of thousands. A colony that, as per Kolivan, no longer even existed.

And the kicker? Allura still loved him. She still looked back on their time together fondly, and her heart still ached when she thought of him dead and alone in the Quintessence Field.

“Princess?” Allura jumped at the voice of Romelle behind her. “Sorry.” Romelle added quickly.

“You’re quite alright.” Allura said, glad to see a friendly face that most likely would not lecture her.

“I knew her, you know. We didn’t get along very well, but…” Romelle trailed off.

“It still hurts to see one of your own in pain. Or danger.”

“Yes, exactly.” Romelle said, smiling sideways at Allura, “But, if anyone is going to figure out a way to fix this… to save _our_ people, it would be the princess Allura they tell of in the legends.”

Allura didn’t reply. She just continued to stare through the glass, hoping that Romelle was right. The two Alteans stood there for a while before retreating to their respective rooms.

Allura supposed she should have thanked Romelle for her kind words, but she was not entirely sure she was actually worthy of Romelle’s faith.

 ----

Keith was staring at him, and Lance knew it. He looked back, raising his eyebrows in question. Keith looked away and Lance frowned. “Is everything okay?”

Keith glanced back at him, opening his mouth and then closing it again, and then shook his head.

The two of them were seated in the observation deck, watching the stars pass by as they navigated to the next planet in this sector.

“It’s just…” Keith spoke after a moment, “Please don’t take this the wrong way, Lance.”

Lance’s heart dropped, “Keith?” He questioned, fear creeping into his voice without his consent.

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad, I promise.” Keith assured him, playing with Lance’s fingers. “I just. Didn’t you love Allura?”

Lance was taken aback. “I, uh,” He thought for a moment and then said, “No. No I don’t think I was ever in love with Allura. Not really. She was this unobtainable goal. I think I loved the idea of her.”

Keith had dropped his hand, and Lance continued, “When you left the team, I realized, too late, that I made up our rivalry to get your attention.” Lance thought about the loneliness that had crept up on his in those days. “I missed you, and I tried to convince myself that I was _in love_ with Allura, and not just infatuated with the idea of her.” Spilling his guts on his thoughts about Allura to Keith, _who was his boyfriend,_ was not something Lance thought he would ever have to do, and it was proving very difficult.

“I did have real feelings for Allura. I won’t deny that. But at the end of the day, when I was alone, when she and Lotor weren’t around I was thinking about you.”

Keith looked up at him now, his expression open, sincere. “I thought about you a lot, too, while I was gone. Every time I did something you would have considered a stupid risk.”

“Which must have been often.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Even more when I was in the Quantum Abyss with my mom. I missed you.”

Lance kissed him. “I missed you, too. More than I care to admit.”

Keith hummed and kissed him again. Lance would have been content to sit and kiss him there all day, but Shiro’s voice was booming over the PA.

“Paladins, to the main deck. We’re approaching the base.”

Keith pulled away and sighed, “Duty calls.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The feedback on the first chapter of this literally had me in tears, thank you all so much. Any and all feedback is appreciated more than I can express!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they approached the direction of the sound, the damage around them got worse. The claw marks were deeper, the holes in the walls larger.
> 
> And when they rounded the final corner, Lance felt his heart stutter. His blood ran cold with fear because in front of them was a four armed monster feeding on the energy it siphoned from the ship’s crystal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this took me way too long to write and i am very sorry. It has a lot of short pov's bc this episode changed perspective A LOT, so I'm sorry. I stuck really, really, really, close to the original for this one because it was honestly one of very few (read: two) episodes I really liked. I tried to sneak some Klance in here and there and I changed some reactions, but it's pretty much the same up until the end.

Taking control of Lahn’s base had been the easy part, as far as Keith was concerned, because now the  _ Warlord  _ was snapping at his team and testing Keith’s patience. 

“...I accept defeat.” Lahn said, holding his chin up.

“It doesn’t have to be victory or death!” Keith spoke up, “I know it’s the Galra way, but-”

“And what do you know of the Galra?” 

“My mother is Galra. She’s a member of the Blade of Marmora. So am I.”

“The mutinous Blades have all but perished. Are they so diminished in numbers they’ve been forced to enlist a half-breed and his mommy?”

Keith grimaced, and Lance caught his eye from his position with Pidge on the floor, raising an eyebrow. Keith was saved, however, from defending the Blades further by Pidge. 

“Guys, I’m picking up on an incoming communication.”

_ Yordam bering exus. Yordam bering exus.  _

“It’s an emergency protocol built into the sentries when they’re under distress.” Lahn explained, then his face turned sour, “Has your Voltron Coalition attacked them, too?”

“No… we didn’t.” 

All eyes turned back to Pidge, who was trying to locate the source of the signal. When she had, and Lahn explained about the ships he had sent on a mission, it might have been a bit out of spite that Keith said Lahn would come with them, not just out of necessity. Regardless, no one had said anything about it. Kosmo did seem to pick up on Keith’s foul mood, growling at Lahn the entire way to the base.  

It was only his genuine worry for the destroyed fleet that made Keith decide to uncuff him. “Paladins, Lahn and I are going to in first and make sure the entry point is safe. You guys jetpack in behind us.” After Keith had received a chorus of  _ copy,  _ he gave Kosmo the command to teleport himself and Lahn into the ship. 

Once inside the ship, and uneasy feeling settled around Keith. Something awful had gone down inside it. Munitions, medical supplies, food… it was all floating aimlessly through the ship in zero gravity. There were no signs of life at all. 

“We’re all clear.” He announced to the team, “Lahn, the airlock.” 

Once the paladins were in the ship, he gave them their own orders. Splitting up would cover more ground, and if Lance shot him a concerned look, he ignored it. 

“I don’t like being given orders on my own ship.” Lahn spat. 

“Duly noted.” Keith rolled his eyes as he turned around, heading off to search his own area of the ship. 

\----

Pidge, Princess Allura thought, was smarter than any other person she had ever met. Within seconds, she had managed to pull up the half-destroyed ship’s security logs. Which, Allura noted, had not made Lahn very happy. 

She watched him glare at nothing before flying up to look out of the window of the ship. She couldn’t see his eyes, but something about the countenance of the Warlord called out to Allura, and she joined him in front of the window. 

“Everything I’ve spent years fighting for taken away in an instance.” Lahn growled, staring resolutely ahead at the wreckage of the fleet. 

“I, too, have lost everything: my family, my planet,” Allura tried to console him, to extend an olive branch, “but when the paladins arrived at the Castle of Lions-” 

“You’ve never had to earn power. It’s always been given to you!” Lahn exploded, “You’re looking for something you once had: security, peace happiness! Those things have never been part of a Galra soldier’s life. You and I are  _ not the same.” _

Allura flinched, looking down. In a few ways, he was not wrong. She had been born into the royal family, blessed with a life of bliss before the Galra takeover, but she had lost everything since then. Allura related to Lahn, now, though he may not see it, because both of them would do anything to feel that they  _ belonged  _ again. To feel at home. 

“You want something to call your own. Believe it or not, I understand that.” She reasoned, “But there are other ways to get it than through force. That’s what to coalition is offering.”

Lahn said nothing. He just continued to stare at her, or perhaps stare through her, and Allura could only hope she had gotten through to him. 

\----

Lance had an uneasy feeling as he traveled through the ship, only made worse when Hunk said, “The escape pods are still here.”

“Yeah, but the Galra aren’t.” Lance replied, looking at all the ships left alone in the bay, “Everyone is gone, but no one escaped in one of these things.”

“Ugh, that’s creepy.”

He and Hunk continued to wander through the abandoned halls of the ship, and dread continued to pool in Lance’s gut. When they pried to doors to another room of the ship open, it was only made worse by the appearance of claw marks on the walls and destroyed furniture. 

Then Hunk started screaming, flipping over as they floated through the room in zero gravity, “Ah! It’s a massacre! We gotta get outa here!”

Lance didn’t have to time react before something hit his visor, and he panicked, clawing at whatever the sticky substance was. 

And if he felt ridiculous for his panic when Hunk discovered it was only food  _ (rotten, sticky, food goo)  _ than at least no one else was around to witness it. 

\----

Keith was not having a good time. He was more on edge looking through the wreckage of the ship than he had been since he and the others returned to Earth. Something felt  _ wrong.  _

The ship was in tatters, barely even in one piece. There were gaping holes in the walls, destroyed helmets and sentries littered the floor. 

Any life the the ship may once have held was just…  _ gone.  _ “What could have done this?” He wondered aloud. Kosmo whined mournfully. 

When the banging started ahead of him, Keith was fully prepared to face an enemy, anything that could have caused the destruction in the ship. He was not, however, prepared for a sentry to be stuck in a sliding door, struggling repeatedly to break free. 

\----

Allura and Lahn had returned to the floor behind Pidge, watching as she played with the corrupted security footage. 

“I think I’ve got something.” Pidge said, breaking to silence, “The soldier is here, but after the flash, he’s gone.” She pointed at the screen, “but now the shadow from before is on the other side of the screen.” 

Allura was perplexed, “Perhaps it’s from another soldier?”

“I don’t think so. That’s less than a tenth of a second.” Pidge went on to explain the shadow’s shape, and then manipulated it to form whatever the shadows’ true shape was. 

Lahn gaped, “What  _ is  _ that thing?”

\----

Lance was still on edge from the foo goo fiasco as he and Hunk continued through the ship. The snarling did not help. 

As they approached the direction of the sound, the damage around them got worse. The claw marks were deeper, the holes in the walls larger. 

And when they rounded the final corner, Lance felt his heart stutter. His blood ran cold with fear because in front of them was a four armed monster feeding on the energy it siphoned from the ship’s crystal. 

_ “Guys, be on the lookout for a giant, deadly monster.” _ That was Pidge over the comms. 

Then Allura:  _ “We believe that is what attacked the crew. Avoid at all costs.” _

Pidge again:  _ “Lance? Hunk? Do you copy? Lance? Hunk?”  _

Lance and Hunk hadn’t moved, but then the monster charged, and the two of them bolted, screaming unabashedly. 

_ “Guys! Are you okay?” _

The monster didn’t chase them for long, though, and Lance was grateful. “We’re okay.” He said, trying to force calm into his voice. 

“Keith! Keith, can you hear me?” Pidge was calling as Lance and Hunk arrived at the control deck. 

“Are you two okay?” Allura asked, rushing over to them.

“We’re fine, but we need to get out of here.” Lance avered, desperate to be off the ship. 

“Why? What happened?” Pidge asked, stepping away from the control console. 

Hunk tried to quickly explain what happened, but Lance’s mind went somewhere else, “Wait, where’s Keith?” 

\----

Keith was floating through another hall, Kosmo growling as they traveled further. 

_ “What are you?”  _ Wrabbled a vaguely male voice,  _ “What are you?”  _

As Keith got closer, he realized it was sentry, somehow left untouched in the wreckage of the ship. 

“My name is Keith. Leader of Voltron, Paladin of the Black Lion.” Keith’s eyebrows knit together, “Wait.  _ Yordam bering exus.  _ Is that you?”

_ “Where are the rest of the Galra?” _

“They’re still on planet Ryker. Why?”

_ “Planet Ryker.” _

Then the sentry was pushed aside and tossed at him, a monster as large as the hallway roaring in its place. Keith barely had time to react, slicing the sentry in half and diving out of the way. 

The shot at him, though, an ion beam coming from its mouth that Keith blocked with his shield. He slammed against the wall of the ship and rolled. The beam didn’t stop, it just ripped through the ship. 

Keith lunged at the monster, but it disappeared, reappearing behind him. Kosmo had other plans. Appeared in front of Keith again, this time teleporting them  _ both  _ away from the monster’s path, and into the control room with the others. 

“Oh, Keith, good. You’re here.” Hunk shouted, “There’s a monster on the ship.”

Keith ignored him and moved toward the front of the room with Lahn and Pidge. “The base you sent this feet to plunder. Was it Warlord Ranveig’s?” He questioned Lahn quickly. 

“Yes, it was.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Keith.” Allura interrupted impatiently, “What’s going on?”

“The creature on this ship is a super weapon designed to destroy the Galra,  _ and only Galra. _ ” He explained. 

“Warlord Ranveig would never create such a thing!” Lahn defended. 

“Ranveig found the creature in the Quantum Abyss, and experimented on it with Lotor’s quintessence.” Keith could feel Lance getting closer to him. He took a deep breath and continued, “He trained it to take out his Galran enemies, but he could never control it. The beast couldn’t differentiate between adversaries and allies.”

“Wait, how do you know so much about this super-monster-weapon-thingy?” Lance asked. 

Keith glanced at his boyfriend and then looked away, “Because Krolia and I let it loose so we could escape Ranveig’s base. This is all my fault. I’m sorry.” 

“This is what you’ve wanted from the beginning! Something to get rid of the Galra for you.” Lahn snarled. 

“I don’t know what it’s gonna take to get it through your thick skull,” Lance interjected, “but we’re not your enemy.”

Keith’s heart swelled gratefully, but he didn’t have time to thank him, “Pidge, can you initiate self destruct protocol? We need to destroy this ship and the monster along with it, and we need to do it immediately.” 

Pidge nodded, turning toward the controls, “Once I initiate, we’ll have two dobashes to exit the ship. 

_ That’s not enough time,  _ Keith thought as Lance said the same thing aloud. 

Pidge ignored him. “Let’s move!”

The monster, however, had different plans.  _ “All Galra must perish.”  _ Sounded the disembodied head of a sentry, held aloft by the monster.  _ The monster that I set loose,  _ Keith thought. 

Snarling, the beast launched itself at Lahn. The paladins scattered, Allura using her bayard to pull Lahn out of the beast’s way. 

Kosmo jumped at it, but the beast caught him, and Hunk dove to catch the wolf when the monster threw him off. 

“Come on!” Lance shouted at Keith as he trailed after the others, but the doors closed before Keith and Lahn could make it out. 

\---

“Pidge! How much time before the ships explodes?” Lance called, trying to quell the panic stirring in his gut at the sight of the doors locking his boyfriend with a monster thirsty only for Galra blood. 

“Sixty ticks.” As Hunk shouted that they had to get Keith and Lahn out, Pidge tried override the lock on the door, but it failed. 

“We can take it down with our bayards.” It was a last resort, and probably a lost cause, but Lance was desperate. “Keith! We’re coming for you.” 

“Stand away from the door.” Hunk added. 

\----

Keith heeded to Hunk’s words, trusting that his team would find a way to get them out, and turned his attention back to the monster that was closing on him and Lahn. 

Lahn attacked it, and would have taken a direct hit, but Keith pushed him out of the way, intercepting the blow with his shield. 

The monster turned its attention back to Lahn, the full Galra holding its attention longer. “Victory or death!”

Keith again moved in front of the warlord, but this time his bayard took on a new form. The blaster was powerful enough to knock the monster back, “Do you trust me yet?” He barked at Lahn, who simply narrowed his eyes. 

“Paladins! Clear the hallway. We’re coming through.” The blaster melted straight through the door, and the team followed after him as Keith jetpacked down the hall, toward the airlock they had originally come through. 

“Five ticks! We’ll never make it!” Pidge yelled as the monster, apparently not disabled as Keith would have liked, rounded a corner behind them. 

Keith had never been more grateful for his bayard since coming to space because the blaster upgrade made a hole through the ship when he fired it into the cargo bay. The ship exploded behind them, and the monster was nowhere to be found as the lions each caught their paladins. 

 

Later, after the intel from the ship had been processed, and the paladins had decided the best course of action would be to separate from the Galra and hunt Honerva, Keith knocked on Lance’s door. They hadn’t been able to really talk all day, not with the mission and the monster and then deciding to split from the Atlas. 

Lance opened the door, smiling at Keith, and then flopped back down on his bed. Keith laughed, but he understood the feeling. This was their last night aboard the Atlas for a bit, and beds were not the same in the lions as they were an actual ship. 

“You scared me today, you know.” Lance spoke as Keith sat down beside him to take off his shoes. “Those doors closed and the ship was about to explode. I had no idea if we would actually be able to get you out.” 

Keith looked him, “But you stayed anyway, despite the impending explosion that would have killed us all.” 

“I decided a long time ago that I didn’t want to lose you.” Lance said plainly, and Keith finally laid down beside him, his heart fluttering happily. They didn’t speak again for a while, though.

“It did make me realize something else, though, you being locked in their with that beast.” Lance said seriously, and Keith raised an eyebrow. “I love you.” He finished, flushing slightly. “I’m pretty sure I loved you before you even left for the Blade, I just… didn’t want to admit it. Not even to myself.”

Keith grinned, “I love you, too. And I definitely knew a long time ago. Long before the Blades even came around.”

Lance laughed, muttering something about “one-upping” before he kissed Keith, who reciprocated happily. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try my best to get another chapter up soon, but, as always, all feedback is greatly appreciated! <3  
> (Also if you like my stuff, I uploaded another little stand-alone klance AU that you can check out!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Allura they had so much left to teach the universe, and now they’re gone.” And that resounded so deeply in Allura that she was taken aback. She knew what that was like. Knowing that someone - an individual, a people - could have been so much more, but it was stripped away from them. It hurt, it tore at the most morally righteous pieces of your heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is pretty different from the other three. it stuck pretty close to the actual episode, too, but i left out a lot of dialog. it's all allura's pov because i felt like i needed to do some introspection on her character, given the events of this season. there really isn't any klance, so i'm sorry if that's all you're here for - i'll get some in the next chapter lol. 
> 
> also very sorry this took forever to post and it's only 1,200 words i tried i swear love you guys

The team was exhausted, and it was showing. Hunk and Pidge lamented about the process of checking each system, Lance was not nearly has quick witted, Keith just simply trudged forward, doing his job as leader the best that he could.

But Allura knew they were doing what was right. The robeasts and Honerva had to be stopped, and if that meant checking each system any reports of sightings, then that is what they would have to do.

It didn’t make any easier, though. The system was - according to Pidge who was never wrong - 230,000 light years in diameter. They were looking for a _needle in a haystack_ or whatever the Earth expression was.

The Quantum Abyss was out - Keith had made that perfectly clear. But it still burned Allura. They couldn’t understand. Her people were being exploited - people who she thought were _extinct_ until recently. They were _dying_ for speaking to her - dying at the hands of a woman who had caused their near extinction to begin with.

But snapping at the team was uncalled for, and she felt guilty for it. Lance pulled her out of her tirade, and she was reminded of how grateful she was for his friendship. He had been there for her with Lotor, and he was still there now.

“Okay, maybe we head to Olkarion? Were just a few galaxies away.” Hunk suggested, and Allura could have hugged him. The Olkari were brilliant people, and they would be there best shot at getting a better location on the Robeast.

But when there was no response to Pidge hailing the planet, Allura couldn’t help the anxiety pooling in her stomach.

The Weblum was quite a shock, too. They ate dead planets, but -

Olkarion.

Voltron raced ahead of the Weblum, but it was no use. Olkarion was decimated, and Allura’s eyes burned at the sight of the destroyed planet.

Allura knew what had happened. They all did, and searching Olkarion just confirmed it. It burned her knowing that her people were being mislead, brainwashed against their own people.

Keith’s announcement that the the damage patterns matched Earth, Hunk and Lance seconding with element scans - it all just confirmed what they already knew, what they didn’t want to say.  

Allura watched as Pidge trekked ahead of her. When she assigned the paladins their lions in the Castle so long ago, she knew that Pidge had to possess a great connection with nature. Pidge had proven that on Olkarion, and over and over again in battle, and it broke Allura deeply to see Pidge’s wide eyes take in the destruction of a haven for natural growth.

“Pidge, have you found anything?” Allura asked, getting no response, “Pidge, do you copy?”

“I know this place.” Pidge said when Allura landed beside her. “This is where Ryner taught me how to bond with the forest.” Allura listened as the green paladin broke beside her, offering what little comfort she could,

 _"Allura they had so much left to teach the universe, and now they’re gone.”_ And that resounded so deeply in Allura that she was taken aback. She knew what that was like. Knowing that someone - an individual, a people - could have been so much more, but it was stripped away from them. It hurt, it tore at the most morally righteous pieces of your heart.

Allura (everyone, really) knew that a hero’s journey was one of loss, but they don’t tell you that the hero is not the one who loses the most. The loss resides in those that the hero holds dear. The ones that made the hero who they are.

Allura lost her home and father - and that shaped into what people call a hero - but the remaining Alteans lost a future of happiness. They were the ones who lost the most.

The Olkari helped Pidge realize how valuable her intellect was, and they lost everything.

Allura should not have been surprised when Pidge’s connection to the land allowed her to see the history of Olkari. Pride swelled in her chest as she followed Pidge across the ruined land of Olkarion, into the heart of the city. The Olkari may have had a lot left to teach the Universe, but Pidge did, too.

Pidge relived every broken memory of Olkari, calling out to shadows that were no longer there.

“Ryner,” She as she came out of another of Olkarion’s memories, “It seemed like she was talking to me.”

“All the answers we’re looking for could be here!” Allura encouraged, “We may be able to find out where this beast came from and where it’s going next! There might be some clue here about the Alteans.”

“If there is, I will find it.”

In all their time together in space, Allura had never been more grateful for her team. They were understanding of her pushing, of her desperation to find her people, and Allura swore in that moment that she would _make sure_ Pidge gained closure about the Olkari.

And that the rest of her team gained the future they so truly deserved.

But Olkarion was the task at hand, and so the rest would have to come later, even if it meant trying to find a way to divert the Weblum.

Keith and Lance didn’t seem happy about it, but they and Hunk left to distract the Weblum, and Allura watched after Pidge.

She followed her as she raced toward the communications tower, mentally begging the others to keep the Weblum distracted. Pidge was not even concerned - she just kept going.

Allura knelt beside Pidge when she fell, concern etched into her face.

“There was a wormhole.” Pidge mumbled, looking up at her, “That’s how they travel.”

 _“Pidge! Allura! I’m sorry, but you’ve gotta get out of there immediately!”_ Hunk shouted over the comms, and Allura gritted her teeth.

“I’m coming up to help. Pidge needs more time.” Allura said back, she patted Pidge’s shoulder one last time and then raced to Blue.

Allura stopped the Weblum’s blast from destroying Hunk and begged now for Pidge to hurry. They running out of time.

“Pidge! Pidge, are you there?” Allura called after a few moments of radio silence. The weblum would not be delayed much longer, and now Pidge had to get out, information or no.

It happened very fast, in retrospect. Pidge came racing into view, Keith called for the team to fall back, and then the Weblum destroyed the planet.

The team offered Pidge soft apologies, but Allura knew from personal experience that nothing to fill the hole left by losing something so important to you.

“If you think about it, this isn’t really the end of Olkarion.” Hunk said, kindly, “Weblums eating dead planets is just the first step in a process that leads to the growth of new stars, planets, and galaxies. Without it, there would be nothing left to grow from when one planet died, and eventually there would just be… nothing.”

“The old gives way to the new.” Pidge said, her tone sad, but with a little renewed hope. “We need to contact the Atlas.”

Allura looked over at Pidge’s face where her video feed had popped up, “Why?”

“Because it turns out the Olkari weren’t done teaching us a few things. They showed me a way to track the robeasts. Their information is going to save billions of lives.”

Allura smiled softly to herself, so proud of the way Pidge had grown, but didn’t say anything. Allura knew that one day the universe would hail Pidge for her intellect because the green paladin had more to teach them than anyone could possibly understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zethrid had driven her away, had lost her love, but to her it was no different. She was still grieving. Lance looked away from Zethrid, and down to Keith. It was hard to see, but Keith was masking fear with a look of stoic anger. It made Lance tighten his grip on the bayard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i have no excuses for why this was so hecking late, very sorry. this was a fun one to write, and i'm pretty sure its my longest chapter yet! It's literally pretty much all klance and a little but of angst, so enjoy!
> 
> also the feedback on this story makes me wanna cry ilysm

Keith sighed, letting his head flop against his seat in the Black Lion’s cockpit. Oriande. Of course Honerva was there, of course she had somehow miraculously gained access to all of the knowledge King Alfor had used to create Voltron. Of course. 

The call to the Atlas had provided him with little relief. It would be good to see the crew again, to make sure they were okay, but the circumstance was less than ideal. They needed a plan, and fast. Traveling via wormhole with over a dozen robeasts had made Honerva practically unstoppable. 

“Coming up on rendezvous point, straight ahead.” Pidge’s voice sounded over the comms, pulling Keith out of his head. 

The planet was dark and ashy. The plants blended into the ground, and there were streaks of red haze in the atmosphere. An odd place to meet, but they had seen worse, Keith thought. 

“Anyone else find it odd that Shiro changed the rendezvous point to this place?” Hunk questioned as they landed. 

_ Yes,  _ Keith thought, but he kept the thought to himself. No point in voicing apprehensions. It would alarm the team before there was any cause for it. 

“I’m reading high CO2 and low oxygen in the atmosphere. We’ll need our suits to breathe if we go down there.” Pidge said. 

The proximity sensor in the Black Lion sounded, and Keith looked up, “They’re here.” He said, making out the shape of the Atlas. “Atlas, we have a visual.” But then, the hologram faded. Keith’s eyes widened, “Paladins, get airborne immediately! This is a trap!” 

But they didn’t get anywhere. Purple light engulfed the lions, and all five paladins were forced to the ground. Hunk shouted something, but Keith wasn’t paying enough attention to make it out. 

“We’re about to be captured again!” Lance yelled, and Keith’s heart leapt. That could not happen. 

Keith gritted his teeth. “Emergency ejection!” They would have to come back for the lions later. 

He and Allura called out to the Atlas through the comms, but Keith knew it was probably useless. They had been lured to the planet somehow, and he doubted their would be captors were dumb enough to allow their comm signals to make it to to help, and Pidge quickly confirmed his thoughts. 

Drone fired rained down around them, causing explosions left and right as the five of them dove into the dark, bare woods of the planet. 

“Guys,” Pidge said just as they got to semi-safe ground, “we have incoming. It’s closing fast.” And then they were off again, dodging the fire from the drone. 

“We need to lose it!” Hunk cried, shielding his head and running forward. 

“Isn’t there anything we can do to throw it off our scent?” Lance yelled back, coping movements and blocking his head from the drone’s onslaught. 

“I’ve got an idea, but I need a minute.” Keith exhaled, not quite relieved yet, but grateful for Pidge’s intellect. 

“I’ll buy you some time!” Keith heard Hunk yell. The paladins slid to halt in a small clearing, Hunk firing rapidly at the drone. Keith saw Allura shield Pidge as she furiously tapped on her holoscreen. 

“Got it!” She yelled finally, “It shouldn’t be able to detect us anymore.” 

“Then let’s get out of here.” Lance growled, frustration evident in his tone. Keith glanced over at him, which was a mistake. Lance looked angry, and a little scared, and it just made Keith want to run to him even though he couldn’t. 

Keith looked away, watching with bated breath as the drone’s shield went down. It’s fire had stopped, and it circled over the paladins, but didn’t seem to notice them. Their luck didn’t hold. The beeped a few times, and then reopened fire above the five of them, and they scrambled to find safety again. 

“I need something to draw its attention!” Keith shouted from behind the little cover they had found. A plan was quickly forming in his head. It was desperate, but it would have to work. 

“I’ve got it!” Allura said from beside him. She jumped up, wrapping her whip around a tree, and then pulled. The tree fell, sending the drone scrambling out of its way. 

Keith locked onto the drone, and then threw his bayard, in its sword form, as hard as he could. It hit the drone directly, sending it down. Finally. 

“Good job, Keith!” Lance said, and Keith smiled for the first time since landing, “I mean, I was just about to do that, too, but that’s cool.” Keith rolled his eyes, glad to hear Lance joking around again. 

Keith turned to face him, “Better luck next time, sharpshooter.” He laughed, patting Lance’s helmet. Lance rolled his eyes, but smiled back at his boyfriend. 

The next few minutes were spent gathered around Pidge as she hacked into the drone’s interphase. 

“This thing has been locking onto our key encryption protocol that’s built into our suits and bayards.” Pidge explained, wrinkling her brow. 

“How did they get that?” Keith asked, his own eyebrows coming together. 

“I don’t know.” Pidge looked stumped, “Only a genius could do it.”

“Can’t we just… turn our suits off?” Lance questioned. 

“Negative.” Pidge shook her head, “If the drone had our encryption protocol, then so does that cruser and anyone on it. If we want to avoid detection, we need to lose our suits  _ and  _ our bayards. 

“We need our suits to survive.” Hunk said, raising his eyebrows. 

Keith sighed, “At this point, we’ll survive longer without them.” 

“So, keep our suits on and risk getting blasted, or take our suits off and try to live long enough to avoid dying from poisoned air.” Lance said dryly, “Two fantastic options.” 

“Look, it isn’t ideal, but we don’t have any other options.” Keith said, looking over at Lance, “We’re just gonna have to make due.” He hated it, though. Hated leaving their defenses behind, hated looking at his boyfriend’s expression (still scared, still frustrated), and he hated the dread pooling in his gut. Keith couldn’t help but feel that things were only going to get worse.

“We need to split up.” He said, looking away from Lance, “The four of you head that way,” He point east, toward a mountain, and deliberately ignored Lance’s sound of indignance, “I’ll go the opposite. We should be able to work our way around this forest thing and meet back at the lions.” He turned on his heel and headed west, the opposite direction he had told the other four to go, praying that Lance would stay with them. If things were going to get worse, he had to make sure Lance was safe, and he would be safest in the bigger group, regardless of how badly Keith wanted to stay beside him. 

\----

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a GPS right now.” Pidge grumbled, and, boy, did Lance agree. Trekking along a deserted planet while under attack and without his boyfriend? Not ideal. 

Keith’s decision to split the group wasn’t a bad one, but going off by himself? That, Lance did not agree with, but he hadn’t argued. Hadn’t pitched in his two cents. Nope. He had followed the order and headed east with the others, just let Keith wonder off on his own, and if anything happened to him Lance was never going to forgive himself. 

“We must not allow ourselves to panic.” Allura chided, calmly, “Clearly, we’ve relied on our tech far too much. We need to focus if we’re going to get out of here.” Her optimism did not last, however. Staring up at the bald trees, Allura frowned, “Okay, I’m lost.” 

“What do we do?” Hunk asked, throwing his hands up. 

Lance looked around, pointing toward a mountain - no, volcano - in the distance. The same one he had seen when he first looked in the direction Keith had given them,  _ and,  _ he noted,  _ had been there when the lions got pinned down _ . “Our lions are that way.” 

“How do you know? Do you have a scanner you’ve been hiding?” Thanks, Pidge. 

Lance sighed, “No, I just looked at the volcano. It was on our left when we came in, so I put it to our right side, and that’s the way out.”  _ Please let Keith have done the same thing.  _

“You’re a genius!” Allura praised. 

“Oh, snap. Well done, Lance.” Hunk joined. 

Lance preened a bit under their praise, smiling just a little. 

Pidge started to say something, but then lasers were firing down on them again, and they took off into, plunging further into the woods. 

“More drones?” 

“No,” Lance gritted his teeth, “look.” Above them were three or four space pirates, all reining down heavy fire, “We need to move.” 

The ground gave way only a few meters away, and Lance couldn’t help but scream as he and the others fell down the hole. 

They hadn’t meant to split up yet again, but falling gave them no choice. Lance snagged Allura’s arm in order to make sure they stayed together, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe in the poor atmosphere. 

“When they find us, we’re going to have to fight.” He said, looking over at her, “But if my volcano logic is correct, the lions should be on the other side of this -” He was cut off by a fist meeting his jaw. He fell back, and another pirate jumped at him, “Allura, get out of here. Now!” 

It was the kind of thing Keith would have said, Lance thought, but there was no choice. If they captured the princess, there would be no way to get her back. He looked up, relieved to see that Allura had appeared to follow his advice.

“Looks like she left.” Said the first pirate, “Don’t worry, we’ll find her for you.” They didn’t get to say much else, though, because Allura dived out of the shadows, making quick work of both the pirates. 

“Thanks.” Lance mumbled, working his way to his feet. A shadow fell over them, and Lance could have cried with relief. 

“The Atlas!” Allura smiled. 

Something akin to fear curled in Lance’s gut soon after, though. “Allura, you rendezvous with the Atlas, Hunk, and Pidge. I need to find Keith.” 

Allura looked concerned, but she didn’t fight him. 

\----

Keith kept his armor on for a while, hoping to keep the pirates away from the others, and took off toward their crash site. He was gradually making his way toward where they had left the lions, but the nasty feeling in his gut was only building. 

When he could feel whoever was after him really closing in on his trail, he set up an armor decoy and hid. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and there was no point in continuing to run. It would do him more harm than good. 

He made quick work of the first pirate, taking her down with a swift blow, and then continued moving, his lungs burning for fresh oxygen, but it wasn’t long before the next pirate found him. 

Zethrid, his mind supplied when she took off her helmet, glaring down at him. “You took Ezor from me!” She snarled, launching a fist at him. 

Keith rolled, barely avoiding the blow and drew his blade. He was able to counter her next attack, swiping at her feet and rolling out of her range once again. Zethrid grabbed his wristing on his next swing, though, and threw him a few feet. 

Keith jumped to his feet as soon as the momentum from the blow wore off, and continued trying to block her attacks. It didn’t last long, though. Zethrid got a good hit across his jaw, and jumped him again as he tried to recover. 

Keith was pinned between her and a drop into some distinctly not safe liquid. 

“I don’t know what you think I did.” Keith panted, trying to reason with her.

“You took away everything.” Zethrid growled, “And now my face will be the last one you see!” 

She lunged at him again, and Keith tried to counter, but she again caught his wrist, twisting it backwards. Keith cried out as he heard the bone snap, but Zethrid didn’t stop there. She grabbed his throat, and picked him up, cutting off what little air supply Keith had access to in the deadly atmosphere. Keith flailed his legs, his lungs screaming for air. 

When the MFE ships came into view, Zethrid dropped him, and Keith gasped, his lungs taking down any air they could find. He wasn’t out of the woods, though, as Zethrid quickly secured him in front of her putting her blaster to his head. 

\----

Lance heard Keith cry out as he ran through the baren woods, and his heart began to race. 

He passed the armor decoy and snagged Keith’s bayard, which had been left attach to his hip plate. He spared a glance at the pirate on the ground, and his fears the Keith was in trouble were doubly confirmed. 

When he saw the MFE ships gathering overhead, he ran in their direction. Hopefully they had found Keith, hopefully they had helped him. 

But as he slid around the corner, he could see that it was not the case. Shiro and Axca were standing in front of Keith and  _ Zethrid,  _ pleading with her as she held a blaster to Keith’s head. Lance wanted to cry out, wanted to scream at her to let him go, but he knew it would do no good. 

He dove behind a rock, and activated Keith’s bayard, relieved that it had responded to him. 

“Zethrid, don’t do this.” Axca pleaded. 

“I knew you’d come.” Zethrid said, too calm for Lance’s taste, “Now you will feel what I felt.” 

Lance balked at her last line. What she felt? His eyes widened as he remembered Keith telling him, at someone otherwise unimportant time, that Zethrid and Ezor thought Keith and Axca had something going on. How wrong they were. 

“It’s over.” Axca tried again, ignoring Zethrid’s quip, “You’re surrounded.” 

“You think this deters me, Axca?” Zethrid asked, “I welcome death, not that Ezor is gone.”

Lance gasped.  _ Of course.  _ Ezor must not have survived the explosion of the pirate’s first ship. Zethrid was out for revenge, and she thought that Axca loved Keith. It was the perfect plan. 

“Zethrid, I know you hurt.” Axca said softly, removing her helmet. “Ezor hurt, too. That’s why she left you. She couldn’t keep holding onto the anger.”

So she  _ wasn’t  _ dead. Zethrid had driven her away, had lost her love, but to her it was no different. She was still grieving. Lance looked away from Zethrid, and down to Keith. It was hard to see, but Keith was masking fear with a look of stoic anger. It made Lance tighten his grip on the bayard. 

“Stop!” Zethrid snarled. 

“Hear my words. Remember how we first met.” Axca continued, holding steadily still, “We were all so full of hate and rage, half breeds rejected by the Galra.” Axca closed her eyes briefly, as though bracing herself, “Lotor used us. He led us down a painful path, a never-ending cycle of destruction and loss.” Zethrid’s eyes widened. “Now is your chance to  _ break  _ that cycle. With me.  _ With Ezor.  _ She wants you to  _ leave the rage behind.” _

“I’m top far gone! She’ll never take me back!” Zethrid tightened her grip around Keith’s throat and Lance saw him gasp for air. He exhaled, taking aim at Zethrid, anger coursing through his veins, but the moment wasn’t right. 

“Wait! Please! Don’t let the rage control you!” Desperation was seeping into Axca’s features. Something had to be done,  _ right then.  _

“All I have left is revenge!” Zethrid took aim at Axca, and in the split second it took, Lance fired. 

Zethrid grunted, falling backwards from the force of the blast, and Lance stood up, sighing in relief when he saw Keith standing. 

Of course, being ever noble, Keith lunged and caught Zethrid and pulled her up before she could fall to her death. Lance almost laughed, his boyfriend was, once again, noble to a fault. 

 

Lance waited for Keith outside of the medical bay, the adrenaline from the mission finally leaving his system and leaving only the feeling of overwhelming relief. 

As soon as Keith came walked out of the door, Lance tackling him into a hug, ignoring Keith’s soft “oof.” He focused on the feeling of his boyfriend hugging him back, and let his brain take in the warmth of Keith’s skin and the pulse beneath it. 

He pulled back a moment and cupped Keith’s face with his hands. “You scared the hell out of me out there. You should have just stayed with the group. We’re better together.”

Keith turned his head and kissed Lance’s palm, then looked back into his eyes. “I know, but I… I knew something was going to go wrong, and I figured it would be better if it went wrong for just me. Let you and the others get to safety.”

Lance huffed, dropping his hands to Keith’s shoulders, there was that nobility again. “I thought we agreed no more sacrifices?”

Keith laughed a little, “No, we agreed not to make promises we couldn’t keep.” 

Lance leaned forward and kissed him briefly, letting his heart race happily when Keith kissed him back. 

“Besides,” Keith smiled when they broke apart, “I already told you. I know you’ve always got my back.” 

Lance kissed him again. Keith was right. As long a there was stupid risk for Keith to take, there would always be Lance at his back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I skip over Pidge making an out of character, uncalled for jab at Lance? Maybe. Bonus points if you can tell me where. 
> 
> All feedback appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She switched her comms off as the lions made their way back to the Atlas, sobbing to herself for the opportunity lost. For the unfairness of it all. For the universe, for herself, for Lotor, for Altea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! This heckin late. Klance is background in this chapter, but I tried to include them a little. This is mainly introspection on Allura and how she was feeling with the whole Oriande thing, I did my best.

“The planets are reporting activity.” Veronica shouted, her hands moving quickly over the display in front of her, “The Robeasts are siphoning the quintessence!”

“We need to engage them all, save as many people as we can. We’re talking about triage here!” Iverson called, shaking his head. 

“We could split up the lions.” Keith suggested. 

Hunk shook his head, “One lion can’t handle a Robeast on its own.”

“No, but it could slow them down, buy us some time.” 

“I say we attack them with the totality of our forces and wormhole form target to target.” Shiro pitched in from the head of the table, his hands folded together. 

Princess Allura sighed. “No, we must attack Oriande directly.” She took a deep breathe, “I think I know what Honerva is doing. We know Honerva has the ability to create wormholes, and that these wormholes are emanating from Oriande. She used a Robeast to steal the Olkari cubes, which can mimic and intensify energy from a distance. Those Robeasts are essentially armed with Komars, able to drain and transmit massive amounts of quintessence.” Allura had been piecing the witch’s plan together bit by bit in the time since Olkarion, and with each piece she liked it less and less, “Honevera is going to concentrate energy from across the universe to Oriande. She is making a Komar magnitudes larger than anything we have ever seen, something that could drain the quintessence from an entire galaxy.” Allura watched as eyes widened across the table, her heart breaking a bit of the horror on Coran’s face. 

“That monster…” He murmured.

“What could she possibly need that much energy for?” Pidge questioned, looking up at Allura with wide eyes. 

Allura lied, “I don’t know, but we need to act immediately.”  _ She needs it to open the Quintessence Field, _ Allura thought, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Couldn’t bare to bring anymore horror to the table, even if the thought was selfish. “The only way for us to stop them is by going directly to Oriande.”

Keith stood, “Then that’s what Voltron is going to do.” 

_ What a wise leader you’ve become,  _ Allura thought, glancing over at him. The growth her team had experienced still astounded her, sometimes. It was a happy kind of shock, though. The kind that made her heart swell warmly. 

“The Atlas will accompany you, we don’t have time to wait for the rest of the coalition.” Shiro said, and Allura nodded in his direction. 

“Contact Matt, let him know the rebels are going to be in charge of the evacuation efforts for the occupied planets. They shouldn’t expect assistance.” Keith commanding, looking across the table to Sam Holt and Axca. 

“Then we are in agreement.” Allura steeled herself for the coming mission, “It is time to begin our assault on Oriande.” 

As the ship prepared for the trip, Allura gave on last rousing speech, as much for herself as the moral of the crew she considered family: “The universe if facing the greatest threat it has ever seen. Honevera has exploited a vulnerable people, my people, and bent them to her will. She convinced them to pilot her abominations and commit heinous acts.” Allura bit back a shudder, her tone menacing even to herself, “And now she has built a weapon that can destroy an entire galaxy.” She softened her tone, focusing on lifting people up, “Today, we risk our lives for the greater good. We are the  _ only  _ thing that can stop her and defend the universe.  _ Today, it is time to  _ **_end this war.”_ **

Allura took a deep breathe and laid her hands on the teladuv. Her whole life had been lived in preparation for this moment. Every battle she had fought, every tear she had cried, every person she had lost. Today she would alongside her team to make every sacrifice worth it, no matter how things ended. 

As Slav shouted behind her about socks, Allura watched carefully as the Atlas navigated carefully through the disturbances in its path. They would have to find a way through - no matter what it took. 

“The Atlas can’t go much further due to the zone’s radiation.” Coran said, looking at the readings on his screen, and then he gasped, “There they are! The Olkari cubes!” 

“I’m not picking up any energy signatures.” Iverson said, confused, “They must not be active.”

“I’m picking something up.” Veronica said.

Allura was sure the conversation continued behind her, but she focused forward. The entrance to Oriande was so close, and Allura’s heart ached for the last time she had been there. Lotor had been so excited, his face light for the first time since she had met him. It burned her still, to think of those times. Of what she lost when he went rogue, of what she could have done to help him. 

“The guardian.” Allura said, looking out as the blue-white light in front of the Atlas expanded. Purple lights swooped out of the light, and she gasped as the Robeasts came into view. “No! Where is the guardian?” 

“We don’t have time to engage these Robeasts.” Keith said. Allura looked back at him, but Keith’s attention was on Shiro, “Can you clear a path?” 

“We’ll get you through.” Was Shiro’s reply, “Atlas crew, prepare for transformation sequence.” 

Allura smiled to herself, despite the dire circumstances. She had not been wrong to pick Shiro as the Black Lion’s pilot when their journey began. He inspired loyalty in all of those around him. 

As the Atlas took its shape, the paladins raced to their lions. 

“I’m deferring command to Allura.” Keith said through the comms, and Allura nodded though no one could see her. This was her chance to end this war. 

Voltron was formed quickly, and as they raced toward what should have been the home of the guardian, Allura’s heart sank. This woman has defiled something that should have been sacred to Alteans, to their heritage. 

“Look out! Behind us!” Lance called, and they had just enough time to dodge an energy beam. The harvesting of quintessence had begun, and it was starting to funnel into Oriande. 

Keith and Lance formed the wings, and Voltron shot forward again, much faster than they had been traveling to begin with. 

Upon entering Oriande, Allura’s heart sank further, and her stomach filled with rage. “The guardian!” She called, watching the White Lion struggle in the energy sphere Honerva had formed around it, “She’s draining its quintessence!” Allura cried out as the lion roared, and then he vanished. Gone was magnanimous guardian of Altea’s knowledge.  _ Monster, monster, monster,  _ she thought over and over as light exploded around Voltron, the last traces of the guardian’s quintessence. 

“She’s destroyed the guardian!” Allura snarled, “We have to stop that witch immediately!”

“Two Robeasts, incoming!” Pidge shouted. 

Voltron formed its swords and engaged the first, striking quickly and trying to fight the beast off. The Robeasts were tough - only weak in their chest pieces after they fired. 

As they would counter one Robeast, the other would attack, pushing them back and forth between the two over and over. The longer they stayed distracted in the air, the longer Honerva had harvest quintessence. 

They took a hit, energy arcing through Voltron, and all five paladins screamed as the other Robeast slammed them into a cliffside. 

Allura could  _ feel  _ the quintessence filling up Oriande, she could feel Honerva  _ winning.  _

Purple light flooded through Allura’s cockpit, much less harsh than it had been before. 

“Are those people down there?” Hunk asked, and Allura looked out, focusing on the ground. She could see them, little figures of Alteans living happy lives. It broke her heart. 

“According to my readings,” Pidge said, her voice full of wonder and shock, “we’re seeing into  _ other realities!” _

_ “What?” _ Lance exclaimed, and it would have been comical if the situation weren’t so dire. 

“There must be some kind of rip in the fabric of time. The essence of reality is leaking out.  _ Honerva is tearing apart timelines.  _ She could cause irreparable damage to reality itself! _ ”  _

Laser fire continued to rain down from the Robeasts, but Voltron pulled off the cliffside, racing toward Honvera’s location. 

Allura looked down as her bayard slot opened, and Blue urged her to call out to Hunk. 

“I feel it!” He replied, and they both twisted their bayards at the same moment. 

Rockets fired from the feet of Voltron, ripping through the air and toward the Robeasts, knocking them off course and onto the ground below. 

There still wasn’t enough time to get to Honerva, and Allura felt her scream as the the quintessence reached it max. White light exploded everywhere, knocking Voltron back and seeping out of the entrance to Oriande. 

As the light faded, out of the explosion came Lotor’s ship.  _ The ship they had left him to rot in, drifting through the Quintessence Field. _

“This was Honerva’s plan all along.” Keith said, and Allura wanted to sob. 

She had  _ known.  _ She knew Honerva would go after the Quintessence field, but seeing Lotor’s ship brought back every memory, every nightmare she had tried to hard to forget. 

Lotor’s ship started moving and Allura shuddered, “No, he’s back.” Her voice was soft, full of hurt. “I can’t… no!” She shook her head, fighting back tears, pushing off the grief that had once threatened to consume her.

“Paladins, attack!” Keith yelled, and Allura was more than happy to let him lead the charge, her heart ripping in half as the eyes of the ship lit up.  _ How could he possibly be back?  _

Again, they battled with Lotor, but he  _ (his ship?)  _ was stronger than before. It grabbed Voltron’s swords, throwing them back against the rocks floating above Oriande. 

They tried desperately to block another attack, but it shoved back even further, each paladin screaming from the force of the blow. It kept beating against them, rocks flying everywhere as the paladins fought for control of Voltron once again. 

“No.” Allura whimpered as it readied another hit. Voltron was mostly offline. They could not take much more.

The lions flew apart when the blow landed, each one falling to a different spot on the ground. 

“We need to move.” Allura coughed, sitting up in her seat, “Does anyone copy?” 

The comms were silent, and so were all of the lions. Allura gritted her teeth, biting back the hopeless rage pooling in her gut. 

She watched as, up on her platform Honerva stood. “Time to end this.” 

Allura ejected from Blue, racing towards Honerva. 

“Allura!” She heard Lance call, and she glanced back to see Lotor, or his ship, at least, taking direct aim at her. Lance had launched himself at it, but a Robeast moved to intercept him. 

Allura stopped watching, hoping desperately that Lance would be alright (knowing that Keith would stop at nothing to avenge him if he wasn’t), and resumed her flight towards Honerva. 

She launched at the witch as soon as she could really see her, but Honerva smirked, and then Allura was in darkness. 

“Altea’s wayward daughter.” Honerva droned, sickly sweet. 

“Don’t you dare mention Altea to me.” Allura snarled, looking around in the darkness. 

“This is just the beginning. Join me  _ and  _ our people. Together we will go back to Altea.” 

“We cannot go  _ back.”  _ Allura spat. “It is destroyed because of you!” 

“Think of your father. I knew Alfor well. This  _ is  _ what he would have wanted. Join me and the Alteans.”

“Never! You cannot keep me here forever, and the moment you release your hold,  _ I will end you.” _ Allura meant every word. How dare this witch speak of King Alfor? How  _ dare  _ she pin her heinous actions anywhere near his name?

“Then you will end your friends as well.” Allura turned to see Honerva holding a sphere, Oriande’s surface appearing inside of it. “I am the only thing keeping my son at bay.” The image zoomed, and Allura saw Lotor’s sword poised over the frozen Red Lion. 

Her heart stuttered. Lance was her friend. He only in that position because he had tried to help her. The blood would be on her hands if anything happened to him, and she knew the devastation Keith would feel at losing him. She herself had felt it when Lotor betrayed her. 

“Join the right side of the war.” Honerva crooned. 

The darkness faded, and Allura found herself lunging at Honerva once more, frozen as she had been when the witch cast her spell. 

She swung herself off course, deactivating her bayward. Tears finally slipped down her cheeks. The battle was lost. 

Oriande was crumbling as Allura rose to her feet, and Honerva was escaping, taking with her Lotor. 

“Paladins, are you there?” Allura called out to the others, racing back towards Blue. “Paladins, respond. We must get out of here or we will all perish.” 

“Allura?” Lance questioned, and she sighed with relief. 

“I’m moving again.” Keith’s voice came next. “Hunk? Pidge?” 

“I’m here.”

“Yellow’s back online.” 

All five paladins raced for the opening. The entrance was closing, and it they didn’t make it all would be lost. 

They just barely made it out in time, pushing through the wormhole and away from the collapse of the white hole. 

“What the heck just happened?” Hunk asked as the wormhole closed. 

“We failed.” Allura said simply, “And every reality will pay the price.” 

She switched her comms off as the lions made their way back to the Atlas, sobbing to herself for the opportunity lost. For the unfairness of it all. For the universe, for herself, for Lotor, for Altea. 

She wiped her eyes as she landed in her hanger. Allura would end this war. No matter what it took. 

  
  
  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really a happy ending to this one, I'm sorry. Just how the episode went, and I rather liked it. I just tried to give Allura some personality and expand on what had to be some seriously mixed emotions. 
> 
> Still deciding what to do about the next episode, but def gonna put some Klance up in there. 
> 
> Love you guys so much, you're the best.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith sighed. He felt a bit sorry for Allura. All those years she thought she and Coran were the last of their people only to discover that what was left of Altea had joined the wrong side of the war. “Yeah, pretty much.” He kissed Lance’s cheek as he slid out of the bed, “I’m going to go grab breakfast. You go take care of your skin, or whatever it is you do in the mornings.”  
> “Skin care is not a joke, Keith. I love you, but you’re getting a bit sandpaper-y.” Lance teased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Updating on time? Is this real?? 
> 
> Haha, this is p much all klance with a side of Allura angst oops

Keith woke up warm to the sound of Lance’s heartbeat under his ear. He yawned, sitting up slightly. Lance groaned below him, wrapping his arm around Keith’s waist and pulling him back down. Keith rolled his eyes. 

“Lance, we have to get up. Big mission today.” He said, nudging his boyfriend gently. 

“Don’t wanna.” Lance mumbled, “Would rather cuddle with you and forget about our responsibilities.” 

Keith’s heart swelled, his cheeks heating up, “As awesome as that sounds, we have to get up. Like, right now.” 

Lance huffed playfully, but let Keith sit up. 

“Good morning.” Lance smiled, opening his eyes to stare at Keith, but making no move to actually get out of the bed. 

“Get up. We gotta get dressed, and you’re in my way.” Keith poked Lance’s chest and pushed him toward the edge of the bed. 

Lance rolled his eyes, sliding his feet out of the bed. “What is today’s mission, anyway?” 

“The mission is to recover a Robeast, if we can. Allura wants to interrogate as many of Honerva’s Alteans as she can get her hands on.” 

Lance scrunched his nose ( _ cute,  _ Keith thought), “So, more stress for Allura, and more experimentation on weird tech for Pidge. Awesome.” 

Keith sighed. He felt a bit sorry for Allura. All those years she thought she and Coran were the last of their people only to discover that what  _ was  _ left of Altea had joined the wrong side of the war. “Yeah, pretty much.” He kissed Lance’s cheek as he slid out of the bed, “I’m going to go grab breakfast. You go take care of your skin, or whatever it is you do in the mornings.”

“Skin care is not a joke, Keith. I love you, but you’re getting a bit sandpaper-y.” Lance teased. 

Keith rolled his eyes but didn’t reply. He grabbed his uniform from their closet went into the private bathroom to get dressed and brush his teeth. When he came out, Lance was on his feet (finally), getting his own uniform out of the closet and checking it for any wrinkles. 

“I can’t believe they gave us color coded uniforms.” He said, glancing over at Keith with a small smile, “And they don’t even technically math our lions.” 

Keith looked down at his own uniform, shrugging. “I’m kind of glad they don’t. Shiro will always be the Black Paladin, even if I’m the pilot. Red just feels more natural to me.” He smirked, “Besides, blue is definitely your color.”

Lance laughed, and Keith kissed him quickly before heading out of their room and down to the dining hall. 

Pidge was already eating her own breakfast when Keith arrived, yawning as she did so. Keith didn’t say anything, just made his own breakfast and sat down beside her. 

He looked up when the door burst open, Rizavi gripping a camera and Kinkade glaring behind her. “We should interview the paladins!” She burst, and Keith sighed. Their paladin vlogs had been enough of a train wreck to make him never want to sit in front of a camera again, but he stayed put. 

“You guys have a mission coming up today, right?” Rizavi asked, sliding into the open seat in front of Keith. “We should totally document how you guys feel about that!” 

“It’s not a bad idea, actually.” Pidge said, glancing up, “In the future people all across the universe are going to want to know what our thought processes were, how we felt about our missions.” 

“See?” Rizavi smirked over at Kinkade, “A much better video than just following you around all day.” 

Kinkade rolled his, but made no move to take the camera (his camera, apparently) back. 

“Set it up, duh!” RIzavi shoved the camera back toward Kinkade, grinning. Keith straightened out, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.   

“Okay. we’re set.” Kinkade said after a moment of fiddling with tripod. 

“So catch us up on what’s going on.” Rizavi said, aiming the camera toward Pidge. 

“The Atlas is headed to the Grei-Aye system where we’ve identified the remains of a disabled Robeast.” Pidge explained. 

“Those things are pretty dangerous, right?” 

“Do I need to explain that the Robeast was one of the ones used in Honerva’s intergalactic ritual?” Rizavi shook her head, “So, once we reach the planet, the other paladins and I will head down to the surface and secure the Robeast. Hopefully, we can find its Altean pilot.”

Rizavi didn’t seem impressed, “Keith! Tell us about the dangers of this mission!”

Keith repressed another sigh. “Well, every mission has inherent dangers. For this one, we have to be especially diligent about the Robeast.” His eyes narrowed as he thought about what could actually go wrong, almost forgetting about the camera in front of him (almost), “Even if it’s not fully function, it can still pose a threat, especially if the pilot is hostile. There are potentially threats on multiple fronts.” 

“Hey guys!” Keith turned around, relief flooding him at the sight of Hunk. Hopefully, RIzavi (or Kinkade?) would change her mind about who to interview. “You making a movie? Cool. Can I be in it? Wait, not if it’s an action movie. Not my thing.”

“Hunk,” Rizavi whined. “We’re trying to do an interview here!” 

“Oh, sorry. My bad. Just came by to see if you wanted to try this new recipe I’ve been playing around with.” Hunk gestured with the baking tray in his hands. 

“What’s the recipe? Can we watch you work?” Kinkade smiled, picking the camera up and moving over towards Hunk. Keith sighed with relief - no more cameras for him. 

Keith tuned out the argument about what or who to film behind him, his focus going back to his own food. Not for long, though, as the alarm started blaring and the MFE pilots and paladins were called to prep for battle. 

Keith scrambled out of the dining hall, Pidge, Hunk, Rizavi, and Kinkade hot on his heels. He nearly ran into Lance has they raced toward their hangars. Lance raised his eyebrows, silently asking if Keith knew what was happening, and Keith shook his head. 

What was happening turned out to be a massive space-squid-monster of some kind. It was massive, covered in tentacles and bathed in a nasty blueish-green. 

The paladins formed Voltron quickly, diving down after the monster when the Atlas lost visual. 

“Eyes open, team. This thing is nasty.” Keith said as they pushed through the foggy atmosphere of the planet. 

“We can’t see a thing in here!” Lance called through the comms, and Kinkade called a copy as soon as the sentence left his mouth. The fog was too thick. 

The Altas got a visual with a biometric scan, and the paladins pulled back, allowing the Atlas to take a clear shot at the monster. After their transformation, the monster went down rather quickly, with only a few shots fired by the paladins and MFE’s. 

Creature occupied gas planets were an absolute no for the future, however. 

The rest of the day passed by easily - no more tentacle monsters attacking out of nowhere - and they reached the Grei-Aye system a rather quickly. 

It was too good to last, however, as Rizavi showed up in the paladins’ hangar right before their launch, dragging Kinkade along. 

“Lance, how do you feel about the mission you are about to go on?” She asked, and Keith glanced over at his boyfriend, their conversation with Allura ending. 

“Oh, hey. I’m feeling good, I guess.” Lance frowned. “Maybe a little tense. Maybe a lot tense. I don’t know. Why did you ask me that question?” 

Keith repressed a laugh at Lance’s minor panic, “I think what he’s trying to say is that he’ll be fine.” He knocked his shoulder against Lance’s, smiling.

“We all will.” Allura added, smiling at Rizavi and Kinkade before moving to the Blue Lion. 

The site of the crash was dark, the only light coming from the paladin’s suits. The planet had been drained of its quintessence in the attack, so the ground was bare, only dirt laid beneath their feet. It made Keith vastly uncomfortable. 

“The Robeast looks disabled - just as our intel reported.” Pidge said, slowly making her way toward the crashed Robeast. “The Altean should be nearby.”

The ship whirred suddenly, and Keith tensed. 

“Paladins, brace for incoming!” Shiro called through the comms, apparently seeing something from where they were monitoring the paladins on the Atlas. 

A small ship launched from the wreckage of the Robeast, and Keith took a step take. “Take cover!” He called to his team. The ship shot up, and quickly began firing down at them. 

Lance and Hunk activated their bayards, firing back when they could, but two paladins on the ground were not enough to down the small ship. 

“Shiro!” Keith shouted, “We need assistance!” 

“On it!” His brother responded, and in a matter of seconds the small ship was downed by the Atlas. 

“Nice shot, Atlas!” Lance whooped. 

“The pilot’s vessel must be detachable, we must go to it.” Allura said, already making her way toward the downed ship. 

“Careful. If the pilot is still alive, they will be hostile.” Keith reminded her. 

But, upon approaching the ship, Hunk voiced what the others had been thinking, “There isn’t a pilot inside.” He said, pressing his helmet against the ship. 

Keith wondered away from the others, noticing a piece of wreckage a few feet away. The closer he got, the more he was able to make out the shape of the pilot inside, “Hey guys! Over here!” He waved the others over. 

Pidge hacked into the small pod, and managed to open it up. The Altean inside was unconscious, and the paladins quickly brought them into custody aboard the Altas. 

\-----

Princess Allura shook her head, preparing for another useless interrogation with the Alteans. They simply could not see sense. 

“What is Honerva planning?” She asked, taking a seat across from the Altean man - Tavo, Romelle had told her. The man stayed silent. 

“Tavo, please. You and I grew up alongside each other!” Romelle pleaded. 

“We were told you are a traitor, and now I can see that is true.” Tavo spoke. Allura wanted to scream. How could her people not see that they were being used?

“I’m done talking with him.” She sighed, standing up and walking out of the room, “I’m done talking with all of them.”

“Allura, please.” Romelle said as they exited the interrogation room. “You must understand that we all grew up glorifying Lotor, basking in his light. It is hard to see your entire world change.” 

Allura pursed her lips. “I know, but how can they not see Honerva for what she is? How can they not see that all that she is doing is ripping the universe apart?” 

Romelle shook her head, “I do not know, but they are all simply blind, as I once was. We grew up in a world very different from yours, princess.”

“I want only to help. I want to help them see what Altea once was, what we could recreate, and she has ruined that.”

“Not yet, she hasn’t.” Romelle smiled, “Have faith, Allura. They will come around.” 

“Honerva is out there now! Growing stronger, planning something awful. She brought  _ Lotor  _ back.” Allura a hand through her hair, “We are no closer to stopping her today than we were when this began. I cannot simply wait for them to  _ come around!” _

“Allura, you don’t have to. We can fight Honerva without them. We have already. If anyone can figure this out, it is you.”

Allura fought down her doubt, “Thank you, Romelle. Sincerely.” 

Romelle hugged her, and Allura allowed herself the comfort offered. Perhaps Romelle was right, perhaps she would be able to convince the Alteans to come to her side, but for now she was exhausted and content to pick up the battle again in the morning. 

\----

“I hate this for Allura.” Lance huffed, flopping down on his bed beside Keith. 

“Me too, but the Alteans are scared. The only one that said a word to her literally died, Lance.” Keith said, turning his head to look at Lance. 

“I know. I still hate it, though.” Lance bit his lip, “She’s worked so hard as a diplomat and leader, and this is the thanks she gets. A horde of her people that won’t even look at her twice.” 

Keith grabbed his hand, squeezing it lightly, but didn’t respond for a while. There wasn’t much to say, really. The universe had dealt Allura a bad hand, left her clinging to a home that was destroyed and a people that hated her. 

“She’ll work it out.” He said after a while, “Allura always does.” 

“I just wish there was something we could  _ do.”  _

“We’re doing all we can. Fighting alongside her. Supporting her.” Keith kissed Lance’s chin. “We’re her friends. Her teammates. That’s all we can do.”

Lance smiled at him, “When did you become so wise?”

“I always have been.” Keith kissed him for real, “You just weren’t paying attention.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can interpret the Allura/Romelle interactions however you want to, but I'm probably not actually going to go down that path for Allura. 
> 
> Also, side note, I highkey wanna write something for Adashi so if you have any idea please fire away.
> 
> Love you all so much!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late and I'm v sorry but life got busy. My cousins came down from up north and haven't seen them in like 4 years and I was applying for scholarships and blah blah blah excuse excuse but ilysm if you're still reading this 
> 
> Also, i replaced Lance in Allura's nightmare/hullucination thingy with bc they barely interacted all season BUT PLEASE IT IS NOT ROMANTIC I AM NOT A FREAK PLS
> 
> Posting this at 11:50 my time on Feb. 14 SO ALSO HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Lance McClain had woken up several different ways in his two years of being a paladin. 

At the start, it was odd to wake up in the Castle. It always took  him a few minutes to register where he was, why he wasn’t at the Garrison.

He knew what waking up from a stay in a healing pod felt like. The sudden rush of warmth after hours or days of cold. The stumble into consciousness after what should have been a fatal hit. 

He had also been jolted awake before what passed for morning when you were floating through the abyss of space, his blood racing in his ears because the Castle alarm was sounding and that meant  _ move.  _

He remembered one incident in which Hunk had jolted him awake because he was having a nightmare. That had been a bad one. 

Most recently, he had experienced how it felt to wake up before Keith, to feel his boyfriend’s breathe on his chest, and hear his light snores. To run his hands sleepily through Keith’s hair until he blinked awake, his eyes a little Galra yellow in the haze of sleep. It was his favorite way to wake up, and Keith was an early bird so it didn’t happen often. 

Of all the ways he had woken up, however, he had never experienced this. 

_ This  _ was Takashi Shirogane, a put together man and leader, a pillar of reliability and soothing words in crisis, pouding on his door, before just opening it even though he had recieved no response and shouting, “Up and at ‘em. We’re going to Clear Day if I have to drag the Atlas there myself.” And then, ignoring Keith’s undignified yelp when Lance lunged up and Lance’s own mortified (and extremely confused) face, Shiro had turned on his heel and left. 

Keith ran a hand down his face. “What, exactly, is a Clear Day?” 

Lance blanked for a moment before remembering the diastrous events of the  _ Voltron Show,  _ “Clear Day is a celebration on some planet that we missed while doing that stupid tour thing.”

“You loved ‘that stupid tour thing’,” Keith mocked. 

“Yes, but I most certainly did  _ not  _ love being shouted awake by your older brother at what o’clock in the morning.”  

\----

Princess Allura had not been shouted awake by Shiro that morning. 

Instead, she had been woken politely by a beaming Coran. “Princess! Tavo wishes to speak with you!” 

Allura had smiled for the first time in weeks, allowing herself to feel the slightest bit of relief. Any conversation at all was progress. 

“Tavo, I want to thank you for speaking with me.” Allura said as the other Altean took his seat across from her. She smiled softly, trying to encourage the man to speak to her.

“Forgive me, Princess, but we don’t have much time.” Tavo spoke quickly, his eyes glued to the table. 

Allura frowned, “I’m sorry?” Tavo looked terrified, his eyes remaining steadfastly on the table. 

“Once Honerva discovers I am speaking with you it will all be over.” Tavo finally looked up, and Allura tried to cut in, tried to calm him down, but he rushed over her, “Now that she has Lotor, she will use him to destroy everything-” Tavo’s eyes flashed white, and Allura lunged to her feet. 

Honerva was  _ killing them.  _ All of this time she had been faulting her people for not speaking to her, not even once thinking about what might be preventing the ones who wanted to from doing so. 

Tavo collapsed, and Allura knelt beside him, raising a hand to wave off the Atlas doctors who came rushing in the room. 

She held a hand over Tavo’s chest, feeling for whatever Honerva was using to watch the Alteans. It didn’t take long to find it, the dark orb of energy appeared in her mind the moment she closed her eyes. 

She pulled at it mentally, willing it to come out of the man’s body. When she opened her eyes again, there was a red  _ entity  _ floating in front of her. It seemed almost  _ alive.  _

And then the entity lunged, leaving a purple stream in the air behind it. Allura leapt back, as did the doctors still waiting in the room. Together, she and the doctors lifted Tavo and carried him out of the room as Sam Holt shouted orders, trying to find a way to maintain the entity. 

As soon as Tavo was to safety, Allura ran back towards to lab. She had to know more about the entity. How had Honerva used it? How had she not sensed it before when she was interrogating the Alteans? 

“This unit uses the ship’s crystal to energize the optronic vacuum casing.” Sam explained, his eyes focused on the entity. 

Sam had contained the entity, but it was beating against the glass, desperate to be free again. It strained towards Allura, almost seeming to call out to her. Even from behind the glass of the containment unit she could feel the power radiating off of it. 

“Thank you, Sam.” Allura smiled softly, “That thing… it’s like it is almost trying to communicate with me. This must be how Honerva is connecting to the Alteans. How she is controlling them.”

“Perhaps you should get some rest, Princess….”

Sam probably continued, but Allura was focused on the entity, the world around her faded into white noise as she watched in buzz around the container. 

“Allura?” She blinked, glancing back over at Sam, “You’re right. I should get some sleep.” 

\----

“At least we’re finally getting a day off.” Lance grinned, bumping Keith’s shoulder. 

“Shiro said we also need to watch for anything suspicious.” Keith reminded him. 

Lance rolled his eyes, “Don’t be such a downer. Nothing is going to attack a random festival at a planet that has one single good day every year.” 

“Seems like the perfect time for an attack to me.” 

“Whatever, just go fly your lion so we can wow the people.”

Keith scoffed, but headed for the Black Lion anyway. 

Truthfully, Keith didn’t really enjoy festivals or carnivals or anything of the nature. They were crowded and loud and overall not his style. But Lance seemed excited, so maybe it would be alright. 

Allura hadn’t come along, and it worried Keith a bit. She was always working, always slaving over some project or a clue about Honerva. He didn’t have much room to talk, though. He was at a carnival looking for threats that probably didn’t exist. 

Lance had wanted to hit the arcade, but Keith didn’t tag along. He tried not to feel guilty when Lance looked a little crestfallen. 

Shiro found him after a while, giving him a reproachful look. “Keith, relax. Go have fun.”

“If we’re not here for protection, why are we even here at all?”

Shiro shrugged, “Morale is low after Oriande. We all need a day to recharge. Remember that there’s still good in the world.” He laughed a little, “And the leader guy said Voltron never kept their promises and I’ll do anything to spite rude people.”

That got a laugh out of Keith, and Shiro looked a little proud of himself, but Keith put his guard right back up when he walked away. 

There were people, or aliens, whatever, everywhere. Laughing, joking, overall having a great time, but it was overwhelming. 

People also did not take kindly to being pestered about suspicious activity, but Keith supposed that was to be expected. They had one good day a year, why spend it worried about the threat that pestered them the rest of the year?

\----

Allura blinked awake, squinting at a figure by her desk. “Coran? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the festival?”

“Altea had beautiful flowers, didn’t it? Where did you get this one?” Coran asked, his voice was mechanical, not at all full of the exuberance that it normally would be. 

“Colleen gave it to me, it’s a real Juniberry flower, like we used to pick in the fields.”

“You should know better than anyone,” Allura jumped. There was no way - how could he - “ _ Nothing ever truly goes extinct.  _ It’s good to see you again, Princess. _ ” _

Lotor was standing at the foot of her bed. He looked exactly the way he had the day Allura kissed him. 

“How? How did you get in here?”

“You know, the Ancients believed all life started with a single Juniberry flower.”

Her heart pounded painfully in her chest, and Allura activated her bayard, swinging it wildly at his figure before she could talk herself out of it. 

Lotor pouted, “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”

“What are you doing here? I demand to know!” 

“You and I want the same thing, dear. We both seek to destroy Haggar.”

“Haggar is no longer! She is Honerva now!” 

“True, but changing the name of an object does not change its nature. The witch may change her name, but she will always be a witch.” 

“Be that as it may, there is nothing I can do to counter her abilities.” 

“You are mistake, my dear. Everything you need is  _ here.” _

Allura frowned, “How?”

The room darkened, and the entity danced in front of Allura’s eyes, once again calling out to her, its movements hypnotizing in a way that dangerously beautiful things often are. 

“This entity holds the power you seek.” Lotor said, and Allura’s heart betrayed her, affection swelling wrongly in her chest for the man who had betrayed her so terribly. “It is an ancient form of energy that predates time itself. It hails from the Quintessence Field.” Lotor made everything so clear, brought to light things Allura would never have been able to. That was why she had loved him to begin with - the way he could calm her, reassure her with unfaltering knowledge. 

“Entities like this one are how Haggar has been able to conquer worlds and control the universe for 10,000 years. She recognizes the strength it provides it. Uses it, bends it to her will.” Lotor was behind her now, his breath hot on her ear, “If you can become one with the entity, the powers you gain can defeat the witch.”

Allura touched the glass, and then found herself on Altea once more. 

“Allura.”

She glanced up, and her heart leapt, “Mother?” 

“I am so happy that you are here.” Hearing Melanor’s speak almost brought Allura to her knees. It had been  _ so long  _ since her mother had smiled at her, spoken to her, laughed with her. “My daughter, you have arrived just in time.”

“Just in time?”

“To save us.” 

Allura glanced up to see a massive Galra fleet, staining the clear sky with harsh purple and pink. “Only  _ you  _ can protect us, my child.” 

The ships fired, hitting the Castle (the Castle Allura had sacrificed, had watched explode), and Allura found herself somewhere new again, in the pilot’s seat of a Robeast, draining the quintessence away from her own home and firing on the fleet. 

It worked, they were gone, but in the wake of the blast, Altea was destroyed. 

_ “I am so proud of you.”  _ Her mother’s voice said, and Allura looked down to see her mother fade away into ash, crumbling with the rest of her home. 

Proud of what? The monster she had become?

And then she woke up, panting, sweat pouring down her face. The mice chittered at her nervously, and Allura sighed with relief. It was only a dream. 

\----

Keith worked. It’s all that he could do. If he focused on the crowds or feeling guilty for not tagging along with Lance, his mood would take a much worse turn, so he pestered the aliens. Looked for threats. 

His current inquiry was not going well. “Look guys, I just want to know if you’ve seen anything suspicious.” 

The aliens both gave him baleful stares. 

“Well, there is this one weirdo who’s going around and bothering people about  _ if they’ve seen anything suspicious.” _

And, really, Keith was a smart guy, but he replied before even thinking about it, “Okay, that’s a start. Did you get a good look -” and then, “It’s me, isn’t it?” 

The aliens girls took off, giggling, and Keith’s shoulders slumped. 

“Hey, watcha doin’ Keith? Making new friends? Sweet!” Hunk had appeared out of no where, and Keith tried not to sigh. One was not simply  _ rude  _ to  _ Hunk.  _ “You know, it’s good to see you finally letting your guard down?”

“I wasn’t making friends, I was-” 

“Next!” Called an alien and Keith’s looked down to see an Unilu alien gesturing at them impatiently. “Come on! You’re holding the line up! Let’s go!” 

“The line? Line for what?” Hunk questioned. 

A roller coaster, apparently. Another thing Keith did not enjoy. He was an adrenaline junkie, but only when  _ he  _ was in control of the rush. Not an alien contraption at a random fair in the massive abyss of space.

The alien did not wait for them to say anything, just (with a surprising amount of strength), pushed Keith and Hunk into the waiting car. 

“I don’t like rides!” Hunk said, pushing at the bar. 

“Then why were you in line?”

“We didn’t know it was a line!” Keith shouted. 

“Likely story.” The alien rattled off a warning and then pulled a lever. 

The ride turned out to be much worse than Keith expected. It was not, in fact, an adrenaline rush inducing, fast paced ride, but a kiddie ride that blasted some kind of Clear Day cheer and moved a grandma’s pace. 

Hunk, though, loved it. “Oh, this is awesome!” He cheered, and Keith wished he could share the enthusiasm. 

And then the stupid ride  _ shut down.  _ Which, Keith thought, had to be just his luck. The lights kept flickering and the chant kept going, but the car would not move. 

_ “Sorry for the inconvenience, the ride should be up and running again soon.”  _

Keith crossed his arms a little tighter and sank down as far as the seat would allow him to. 

“I gotta get outta here.” He mumbled as the chant continued over and over.

\----

Even though Keith had not tagged along, as much as Lance wished he would have, Lance was determined to enjoy his one day off. 

And, he decided, win Keith a prize. 

He watched one of the aliens native to the planet walk away from one of the booths, clutching a plush lion, and knew  _ exactly  _ what he needed to do. 

“Wanna play?” The Unilu alien behind the booth asked, holding up 3 silver rings, “All you have to do is throw one of these rings onto one of them sticks. Win something for you special someone?” The alien wiggled his eyebrows. 

“You got any red lions?” Lance asked, “My boyfriend used to pilot the red lion, but now I do, so it’s kind of our thing.” 

“I happen to have a one-of-a-kind, collectors edition red lion, my boy!” The alien said, sliding the lion on the counter.  

“Awesome! How much? I only have ten tokens.”

The alien snatched them before Lance could even blink, “Wonderful! That’s how much it costs to play!” 

Lance also noticed that the rings the alien handed him were significantly smaller than the ones he had first presented, but he paid it no mind. He was a sharpshooter, no big deal. 

He landed all three rings on the stick, and felt pretty satisfied when the vendor gaped at him. Lance held out his hand for the lion, grinning already at the thought of giving it to Keith.  

\----

Allura was in front of the entity’s container again, staring ahead unblinkingly. “It’s been here the entire time.”

“Everything you need, the ability you’ve been seeking, within your grasp.” Lotor murmured, standing behind her. “Go ahead, free it.”

Allura reached out, her hand almost on the glass, before changing her mind. “I can’t. I won’t.”

“It won’t do any harm, Princess.” Said Coran’s voice, and Allura looked over to see him beside her. “The entity will help you. It will save us all.” 

“Take it.” Lotor crooned. 

“No.” Allura shook her head. “No! This is not real!”

_ “Only you can save us all.”  _ Melanor’s voice whispered. “Release the entity. Come home, to Altea.” Her mother’s voice shook, and then her image was replaced by Honerva. “Join us.” 

Allura pressed her palm to the glass. She ignored the blaring alarm and called out to the entity, allowing it to enter her mind. 

She saw Lotor’s ship, heard his maniacal laughter, “Follow me!” He called. 

She saw the Universe and Voltron wash away into purple light, and then she saw nothing. 

\----

Keith was going to lose his mind. 

The ride had been down for  _ at least  _ 30 minutes and the animatronic chanting was grinding his nerves. 

Hunk was dancing, still somehow enjoying the trip, but Keith had clamped his hands over his ears. He was begging the ride to move, pleading with any diety that might have been listening because of all the horrors space had thrown at him this had to be the worst. 

The ride finally started moving again, and Keith could have cried. 

But that lasted all of 12 seconds. 

“That’s it! I’m getting out of here!” He activated his bayard and slashed through the bar, ignoring Hunk’s shocked face, “You coming?” 

“Can we come back after the ride gets fixed? I wanna see how it ends!” Hunk asked. Keith gave him a look that bordered on insanity. “Alright, I’m coming, wait up.” 

Keith slashed through the tent and breathed a sigh of the relief. The festival might have been loud, but it least it wasn’t a repetitive chant of meaningless words. 

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur because Keith wasn’t focused on much other than getting back to the Atlas. 

He watched Coran win a yalmor yelling contest, which was… weird, to say the least. It was also pretty funny to hear the announcer mispronounce Coran’s name. 

He, Hunk, and Coran managed to find Lance and Pidge, and Pidge showed them a shiny diggers hat that she had won for Allura, which was very sweet. 

Lance stuffed something in his pocket, and Keith tried not to wonder about what it was. He did, however, grab Lance’s hand. He regretted not going to the arcade with him as soon as the ride broke down the first time. 

Keith finally allowed himself to have some fun as they watched as Shiro beat some Galra they had apparently seen before at an arm wrestling contest. (Was it unfair because Shiro had a mechanical arm?) He laughed and cheered right alongside the others at his brother’s bewilderment when he was lifted into the air. 

 

“I have a surprise for you.” Lance said when they got back to their room on the Atlas, his grin contagious, “Close your eyes and hold out your hands.” 

Keith raised an eyebrow, but did what he said. He felt Lance place something soft into his hands, and opened his eyes to see a plush red lion resting there, and he grinned. 

Lance looked a little sheepish, “Kinda cheesy, I know, but Red’s our thing!”

Keith’s heart swelled with affection, and he kissed his boyfriend. “I am going to keep this forever.” 

Lance’s grin returned, blindingly bright. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I wanted to write something for Adashi? I did that while I wasn't updating this oops another reason this was late 
> 
> But if you wanna check out A Hero's Journey, my 6k word Shiro angst fest i'll love you forever
> 
> I'll try to update this next week ilysm

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, I'm gonna rewrite every episode like Klance was established instead of Allurance, but I'm also gonna change certain major plot events that were uncalled for.  
> Kudos and feedback appreciated!!


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